


We'll Find Better Days

by whatyoufish4



Series: I Assure You, Brother [8]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: A story I needed for myself this month, Anxiety, Fourth-Wall Breaking, Gen, Grief, Hope, Hope you still enjoy, Just two characters sitting in a metaphysical pub, Meta, Really super-duper meta, and hoping, and waiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 18:06:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17248940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatyoufish4/pseuds/whatyoufish4
Summary: It's tough being a Fictional Character, stuck in Limbo between movies, waiting for the chance to set things right again.Luckily, Loki's got a new acquaintance who knows just how he feels.





	We'll Find Better Days

“Don’t give up,” said the newcomer sitting next to him.

Loki shifted minutely in his seat. Lost in his musings, he hadn’t bothered to turn and see who had joined him at the bar; now that he recognized the voice, he was even less inclined to acknowledge the other. “I’ll have another,” he said instead to the bartender, raising his empty mug, and the woman nodded and moved towards the rack of drinkware above the counter.

“I’ll have the same,” said the interloper, folding his hands atop the bar. Then he glanced over at Loki. “Which means we’re having … what, exactly?”

“You shouldn’t be here,” said Loki, staring straight ahead. “Not when _I’m_ Here.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. We’re not supposed to interact. Well, I won’t stay long. I just thought –”

“ _No,_ ” said Loki icily, “I meant that you shouldn’t be here because I don’t _like_ you.”

“Ah. Well, that makes sense too.”

“Sense? I thought it was Weird. Or Odd?” Loki snapped his fingers. “No, I have it. _Peculiar,_ isn’t it?”

“It’s Strange,” said Strange dryly. “Stephen Strange. Doctor, actually.”

“Knew it was something like that.” Loki raised his mug. “‘Doctor,’ eh? I’d recite my titles, but we’d be here all day.” He sipped the last dregs from the bottom of the mug, then glanced over at the doctor. “But, really – you should leave. Don’t you know how this place works?”

Strange cast a glance over his shoulder at their surroundings. It would’ve looked a fairly typical pub if not for the way everything seemed to shift in and out of shadow and focus, as if no one – least of all the establishment itself – was certain who or what was really in existence. “I take it this isn’t your first visit to the Liminal Café and Bar, then?”

“Perish the thought. All the _best_ characters are well acquainted with dramatic deaths and heroic resurrections. I myself have actually been dead before, you know.”

“Not like this,” murmured Strange.

Loki’s eyes shot daggers. “As a familiar visitor to this establishment,” he said through gritted teeth, “Let me assure you again: you should leave. Immediately.”

Strange chuckled humorously. “Still holding a grudge for that little portal incident?”

Loki sniffed. “Don’t think me so petty. Though I meant it when I said I don’t like you.” He waved a hand at the room at large. “But it’s more than that. Our fates are both in limbo – and we’re Characters from the same Story. Having us Here together at the same time is quite against the rules.”

“So?” Strange arched an eyebrow. “Never took you to be the kinda guy that has much use for the rules. Always thought that was one thing we had in common. Well – that and the whole magic thing.”

Loki sneered at him. “If you think for one moment that your little party tricks could even _begin_ to compare with the sorcery at my command –”

“See? I knew you’d be happy to carry on a real conversation if I just picked the right topic.” Strange began to tug off his burnt-orange gloves. “Now that I’ve got your attention –”

“Have you lost your mind?” hissed Loki. “We are not continuing this conversation. You’ve got to leave, now.”

“Aw, c’mon – what’re They gonna do?” scoffed Strange. “Kill us?” He grinned, apparently pleased with his own joke.

“It’s all very well and good for you to flaunt the rules,” muttered Loki. “With your incomplete contracts and your sequels all lined up. No chance of _you_ not coming back, is there?”

Strange arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t I hear something about a streaming series?”

“ _Limited_ series.” 

“Yeah, to help kick off a whole new platform that –”

“ _Look._ ” Loki laid his hands flat on the table. “I was dead hours before the big cliffhanger, and only _just_ after getting to join the side of the Heroes. And let me remind you –” and here he jabbed a finger towards Strange, “This would not be the first time they tried to trope me into a little _Redemption Equals Death,_ would it?”

“Well –”

“So forgive me,” said Loki, “if I’m just trying to stay on track and not needlessly antagonize The Powers That Be. Can you blame me?”

“I suppose not,” said Strange after a moment. “It’s just that all this avoiding each other seems so unnecessary. We’re all in a unique position at the moment, aren’t we? Seems to me we could support each other. Lend a little encouragement, that kind of thing.”

“Is that what I’m supposed to believe you’re doing here? ‘Lending encouragement?’ Anyway, who needs it?” The server was returning with two large steaming mugs, which she set in front of them. Loki immediately plucked up his mug, closing his eyes and inhaling the steam before taking a long sip. 

“Look, I don’t know about you, but – it’s been hard, waiting like this for months. Alone.” Strange gingerly placed his hands on his mug, glancing at its contents with a kind of vague suspicion. “Maybe I’m trying to encourage myself as much as anyone else.”

“We know it’s going to turn out all right,” Loki scoffed.

“More or less, yeah,” he admitted.

“So what’s to fuss about?”

Strange gave a little shrug. “Good point. Maybe I’m overreacting. First time being dead and all. You’re probably right – we’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Silence for several moments. Loki took several long sips from his mug, seeming to consider something. At last he glanced over at Strange.

“What did you mean?” he asked at last.

Strange glanced over at him from where he was casting a spell over the contents of his mug, apparently trying to cool the still-steaming liquid. “What did I mean about what?”

“What you said earlier, when you first came in.” Loki was not looking at him. “About – about not giving up. Why say that to me?”

Strange gazed into his mug in thought. “I suppose … you looked like you needed to hear it.” 

Loki was silent. The last person in the Nine Realms he’d choose to confide in was the one sitting beside him – and yet this was the only person he’d spoken to in the last year who could possibly understand. “I’m worried about my brother,” he suddenly heard himself blurt out, and felt his shoulders slump – though whether it was because a weight had been added or lifted off, he could not have said.

“Thor?” Strange creased his brow. “He was just fine, last I heard. Which, I mean – granted, that was awhile ago. But, y’know, he’s not _Here._ So that’s a good sign.”

“Yes,” agreed Loki. Suddenly he felt very tired. “Yes, he’s alive. But is he all right?”

Strange fell silent.

“Do you know what happened?” asked Loki abruptly. “What happened to him – to all of us?” He folded his hands atop the counter and stared straight ahead, his gaze distant, not waiting for Strange to answer. “Three times, now. Three times, Thor has thought me dead – and each time, he was there to see it.”

“And something made this time different,” said Strange. “Something besides how long you've been waiting Here.”

“What’s different this time,” said Loki, his hands beginning to twist around each other, “is how much we’d already lost. Our mother. Our father. Our friends. Our _home._ A shipful of survivors was all we had left. And now he’s lost that, too.”

Strange was still, watching him.

“And you know, it was different, this time. I was happy to have him think me dead before, happy to know he was mourning me, that he was suffering. This time, I didn’t want that. Didn’t want to give him more to carry.” Loki clenched his hands together. “But I didn’t get the time to really tell him anything. I didn’t have time to _explain_ –”

“You couldn’t have explained. I know how it all happened. But you didn’t leave him with nothing, you know. You gave him some hope. Made him a promise.”

“I tried. But I’ve been asking myself – did it do any good? Did he even understand?” Loki turned to look Strange in the eye. “Was it _enough?_ ”

“That’s always the question when it comes to faith, isn’t it? Is it _enough._ ” Strange hesitated. “You promised him. Didn’t you?”

“… yes,” Loki said after a moment.

“You intend on keeping it?”

“Yes,” said Loki softly.

“Then it’s enough,” Strange said. “It’s up to him to have a little faith.”

Loki sighed. “Faith is hard to hold when you can’t see ahead. I appreciate that better than most. I wish … I wish I could’ve given him more.”

“Any more, and it wouldn’t be faith anymore, would it?” Strange drummed his fingers along the sides of his mug. “You saved his life, you know. Thor’s still alive to fight Thanos because of you.”

“A fight we all lost.”

“The battle, maybe. Not the war. All right,” Strange amended, off of Loki’s expression, “Maybe we lost the war too. But we didn’t lose what’s most important.”

“And that would be?”

“Hope,” said Strange.

Loki looked down, and for the first time, a faint smile was on his face. So occupied, he did not see Strange waving a hand over the bar, golden light coalescing under his palm. 

Turning back just as the light vanished, Loki was in time to see a package wrapped in green and yellow paper, sitting atop the counter.

Loki stared at it, momentarily stunned into silence. “Is that what I think it is?” he managed at last. 

“You seem surprised. Hasn’t anyone ever given you a Christmas present before?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. But that’s a story for another time.” Loki hesitated. “I haven’t anything for you.”

Strange waved a hand, brushing off the concern. “Eh, you didn’t know I was coming.” He continued, as Loki slid over the gift and began to peel back the wrappings, “Besides, I don’t think I could ask for anything more than those very entertaining facial expressions the last time we met.”

“Yes, well, you caught me unawares,” said Loki, brushing aside the paper and picking up the lid. “I’ve been meaning to challenge you to a rematch so we can see, once and for all, who’s the real –”

He fell silent, staring down at the two pairs of sunglasses nestled inside the box.

“One’s for your brother,” said Strange, smiling just slightly. “For when you keep your promise.”

Loki looked at him.

“Don’t give up,” Strange said again, and raised his glass to his lips. Then he lowered it with a slight grimace. “Is this – is this hot chocolate?”

“I happen to like hot chocolate,” said Loki, mock-defensive, but he was smiling as he pulled one pair of sunglasses from their box. Sliding them on, he raised his cup in toast. “To brighter days, Strange.”

“To brighter days,” said the doctor, and they tapped their mugs together.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year, everyone.


End file.
